Former national referees coordinator Pierce Freaney has labelled Eddie O'Connor's criticism of Barry Kelly "a cheap shot".

Kilkenny's 1993 All-Ireland winning captain this week expressed his reservations about the Westmeath man's appointment to officiate over Sunday's 2014 decider between the Cats and Tipp.

Freaney is also a Kilkenny man, but he insists Kelly - who wrongly dismissed Henry Shefflin in last year's All-Ireland quarter-final loss to Cork - is an excellent referee:

"It is not fair to be putting pressure on players and referees, saying that they are going to have do this or do the other," the Leinster referees committee recruitment and training officer notes in The Irish Examiner.

"I suppose there is a perception in Kilkenny, and I am a Kilkenny man, that they were hard done by in the quarter-final last year against Cork, with regard to Henry's sending off. Maybe, in hindsight, it wasn't one of Barry's best decisions. You have to get over it. Players miss frees, they drive balls wide, they let in goals. You get over it. You just move on.

"I think [Eddie's comments] were a cheap shot. I have the utmost faith in Barry Kelly, an excellent referee. Barry has made mistakes and he would admit that, just the same as all those involved in sport make mistakes.

"Knowing Barry, he would smile at the comments. All the top referees wouldn't pay heed or be influenced by such criticism. They are getting all classes of abuse and they just blot it out completely. Barry is one of those referees who goes out with a clean slate for every game. He leaves the past in the past, as should everyone else."

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